Feeling the Music
by annicaspoon
Summary: It's raining. Toph's bored. Sokka's soaking. What does he do to entertain her? Tokka ftw. Please read and review!


**This was written for the October PnF for Tokka Fans United on deviantart. Modern universe, although Toph is still blind.**

**Disclaimer: Avatar is not mine. Though the guitar in this fic is. **

OoOoO

Toph knew he was coming before he ran into the room. She grinned as he burst through the door, soaking wet and shivering, and breathless from running all the way home.

"Get a bit wet, did you?" Sokka rolled his eyes at the teen lying on the couch and shook off his jacket. He scowled as his shoes squished underneath him, sending chilly water through his socks to his feet.

"Yeah, just a bit," he growled sarcastically. He pulled off his shoes and socks and threw them over to the side of the room. "How can you tell anyway? You can't see me."

Toph began counting on her hand, starting with her pinkie finger. "One," she started, "it's raining. Well, not even raining, it's bucketing down outside, and everyone knows that you don't own a _useable_ umbrella and even if you did, you'd forget to use it all the time anyway.

"Two, you were running. I could hear you running outside, and when you came in you were panting. No-one runs in the rain unless they're trying to get out of it, and no-one tries to get out of it unless they're getting soaked."

Sokka walked over to the couch and sat down on the edge in front of Toph. His pants quickly started to make the couch wet, but he ignored it. Instead he thought for a while, and grinned when an idea came into his head.

Toph, meanwhile, oblivious to what Sokka was coming up with, continued with her list. "Three," She stuck up her middle finger with the other two, "you're wet. I can hear the water on your clothes squelching whenever you move around and- Ahh! What are you doing?" Sokka had taken his sodden hair out of the usual ponytail and was shaking water onto Toph's face. "Stop it!" she shrieked. "You're getting wet stuff all over me! Stop!" She pushed him away and wriggled over to the other side of the couch. "Go get some dry stuff on," she growled and punched him in the arm.

Sokka rubbed his arm as he stood up, leaving a round wet patch on half of the couch. Laughing to himself, he walked into his room and opened the closet. As he changed into dryer clothes, Toph's voice called out from the living room.

"Sokka," she groaned and laid her head on the arm of the couch, "I'm really, really bored."

"Entertain yourself,"

"I can't! The rain took away all my forms of entertainment."

Sokka shot her a quizzical look. "That's impossible; the rain couldn't have taken _all_ of your entertainment away." He walked out his room and made for the kitchen.

"Try me."

"Turn on the T.V. and watch something." Toph glared in his direction and he realised his mistake. "Watch, listen, you know what I mean." She leant back again and waved a hand to the T.V.

"Power's out."

"Listen to your iPod."

"Battery's flat."

Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Has that ever stopped you before?" He bent down and opened the fridge. "By now you've usually gone through someone else's room and taken theirs." His voice was muffled as he put his head into the fridge, searching for some meat.

"Normally I would, but yours hasn't worked since it went through the washing machine, and I really don't want to listen to Sugar Queen's soppy music or Twinkle Toes' indie music. I tried looking for Zuko's but he's hidden it somewhere."

"I don't blame him," Sokka muttered as he pulled a chicken leg out of the fridge and sunk his teeth in it. "Speaking of them, where are they? Why don't you annoy them?"

"They're at the movies," Toph grumbled, "and I'm not allowed to go because Twinkle Toes and Sparky made a deal that it was going to be their last chance to impress Katara before they make her choose between them."

"Aang's going to win." Sokka surmised. "Katara likes the sweet guys."

Toph snorted. "Yeah, because Jet was really sweet." She said sarcastically. "I bet you'll change your mind when you hear what movie they're going to see."

"What?"

Toph smirked, "The Final Destination."

"Okay, Zuko's going to win."

"Yeah."

Sokka made to sit down on the dry part of the couch, but Toph quickly pushed him to the other side. "You wet it, you sit on it." She said, but instead he sat on the coffee table.

"I'm still bored," deadpanned Toph, and Sokka to a moment to think of something.

"Why don't you pull a prank on the others? Put something in their rooms or…" Sokka trailed off when he saw the smirk on Toph's face. "…maybe you already have." Toph nodded. "Wow, you've been really bored, haven't you?"

"Yes," she groaned. "I told you, I have no more entertainment."

Sokka thought for a while, then jumped up from the coffee table and went into his room. He came out quickly after and put something on Toph's lap.

Toph raised an eye brow as she ran her hands over the object. "What's this?" she said but Sokka just shook his head.

"Guess." Toph continued to run her hands over the object. The top (or what she thought was the top) consisted of a small rectangle ("The head," Sokka said) with knobs sticking out the back on the sides ("Tuning keys"). As she tapped her fingers on it, she felt that the rectangle was made from wood, which had been glossed smooth. Close to the knobs were small holes in the rectangle, where strings extended out from tiny cylinders which they had been wrapped around.

Toph's hand followed the line of the strings down to a longer, thinner rectangle piece attached to the first piece ("The neck"). Underneath the strings were cold metal indents ("Frets") as thin as the strings themselves, going to the edges of the wood at right angles to the strings. The whole neck made Toph think of a fence built on a wooden block.

Her hands continued to run down the strings, horizontal, continuing past the neck to the large curved part that was sitting on her lap ("The body"). The strings passed a hole in the middle of the body and finally stopped three quarters of the way down the body, before the entire wooden object finished with a curve at the bottom.

Sokka grinned as Toph's hands stopped stroking the object. "Ready to guess?" he asked and waited.

"It's your guitar." Toph paused. "Why do I have your guitar?"

"Entertainment," Sokka replied. "I'm going to teach you guitar." Toph raised an eyebrow and looked at him disbelievingly.

"You're going to _try_ to teach me guitar, and you're going to fail." She deadpanned. "A blind person can't learn how to play guitar."

"Sure they can. They do it all the time." He took her right hand and guided it over the strings. Her hand fitting neatly into his own, he ran her thumb against the strings, thick to thin, rough to smooth. Her free hand, resting on the body of the guitar felt buzzing vibrations as the strings that they had strummed sounded.

"See," Sokka continued. "You've already passed step one and two. Knowing the parts of the guitar and strumming. You're half-way there already." Toph wasn't concentrating on what he was saying though, but instead her right hand, or more so, _his_ hand holding it. Sokka, oblivious to the blush that was slowly creeping up Toph's cheeks, moved himself from the floor.

"Now it's time for step three," he stated as he stood up. "Scoot forward a little." Toph took a short moment to wonder why that mattered but she moved forward anyway when Sokka pushed her gently in the back. She then felt him climb over the arm of the couch (quite ungracefully) and land behind her. The cushion they were on sunk down a little bit more and Toph had to keep herself from falling backwards.

"What are…?" Toph stiffened as Sokka's arms went around her shoulders and his hands grabbed her own. In all the places his body came in contact with hers, she felt goosebumps emerging on her skin.

Amongst the distractions of the chill she was getting every time they touched, and the sound of his warm breath on her left shoulder, she couldn't help but notice that their bodies were perfectly in proportion with each other. Her hands and shoulders were small enough for his to curve around her snugly, neither of them had to adjust themselves to get more comfortable.

Sokka meanwhile, had to continually move his focus back to the guitar, but wasn't doing it very well. He kept finding his concentration wandering away from the guitar lesson to the figure in front of him. He was surprised at why it didn't feel more awkward than it should of. Holding Toph close to his chest with his arms wrapped, almost protectively, around her felt natural. It felt right, like a kid with their favourite stuffed toy.

"Okay we're…" The smell of her hair distracted him. "We're just going to pluck each of the strings and I'll tell you what note it is." His right hand, curving perfectly over hers, guided their fingers to pluck the thickest and roughest string. "That's the lowest note, E." He said.

Toph nodded slowly. Concentrate. She closed her eyes and focussed on the sound of the note. It was really low, and reminded Toph of a truck horn. She heard the sound waver, in and out, soft and loud.

Their hands moved down to the next string. "A" Sokka told her. Was his voice getting softer or was it just the rain getting louder? The two of them moved down to the next string.

"D" Her ears weren't failing her, his voice was getting quieter. She mentally slapped herself and focussed on the note, which, uncannily, reminded her of Zuko's voice. She could imagine him in the room now, snickering and jokingly telling them to get a room.

"G" The vibrations on the guitar were becoming shorter as the notes got higher. Long, soft vibrations to short, sharp ones. The same change was occurring in their breaths. Relaxed and calm to nervous and edgy.

"B" The goosebumps were gone, replaced with an intense, burning heat. Sokka's hair, still falling loose, was sticking to his face. He was so tempted to brush it back and wipe his face, but couldn't bring himself to tear his body away from hers. They had fully melded together, merged into one.

"High E" The last string sounded and broke the atmosphere, moment, whatever it was. It sounded like metal utensils clanging together, and the two tore apart from each other.

They sat in silence, none of them willing to explain what had just happened. The only sound that could be heard now was the rain on the roof, noticeably softer than it was before.

Finally Toph spoke. "So," she panted (why was she breathless?), "Step three's done. What's step four?"

Sokka looked at her as she turned around. He took in her glossy black hair that fell down her back, contrasting starkly against her pale skin. Her milky green eyes, the perfect shade of jade, shone out from her face, even in the dim light. He moved a hand behind her neck and kissed her.

It wasn't a smooch, or French or anything complicated. It was just a long, deep, beautiful kiss. When their lips pulled apart, Sokka rested his forehead against Toph's.

Toph breathed in slowly, her eyes closed. "That's step four?" she whispered.

Sokka, his voice the same volume as hers replied. "Well actually step four is learning cords but I think I like this better."

"Me too." They kissed again, deeper. Sokka moved his other hand to run it through Toph's hair, while she pushed the guitar off her lap to rest her hands on his chest. The guitar hit the ground with a loud noise but the two kept kissing. Sokka leaned back on the couch and pulled Toph with him.

Voices from the front door startled them away from each other. Toph wiped her mouth and leaned against the arm of the chair. "That damn love triangle," she panted. Sokka sprung up from the couch and ran into the kitchen, covering any trace of what had just happened between him and Toph.

The door opened and Katara ran in towards Toph. "Oh my God Toph! You won't believe what happened!" She bent down to whisper. "I just met the cutest guy in the theatre, and I'm going on a date with him next week! Come in my room, I'll tell you everything." Katara then grinned and hurried to her room.

Toph smirked as Aang plopped down on the ground in front of her and Zuko sat on the couch (only to jump back up when he realised it was soaking). "Suckers," she mumbled. Sokka walked out of the kitchen with a coke.

"He had a freakin' moustache," Zuko growled, and Sokka pulled a face.

"A moustache? Man my sister has really bad taste in guys."

A scream tore out from Katara's room. "TOPH, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!" Zuko and Aang's heads jerked up and they looked warily at Toph. They both jumped up and went to check their own rooms, and soon Sokka could hear their own agonized yells.

Toph smirked. "I s'pose I should hide 'till they cool off," she murmured. "And wash up." Sokka chuckled. "And Sokka?" He looked at her and saw her cheeks redden. "Thanks for entertaining me today. Can you do it again another time?"

Sokka pointed to his room. "You know where to find me," he bent down and kissed her again. "But we could go for a walk right now and I can entertain you while you get away from the others."

"You know what? I like that idea." And they quickly put on their shoes and jackets and ran out of the house.

OoOoO

_**Music has been my playmate, my lover, and my crying towel. ~Buffy Sainte-Marie**_

**What girl would want the guy she likes to wrap his arm around her and teach her guitar? And what guy wouldn't want to do this to his girl?**

**Please R&R**


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